Books Read in May

A short list of mostly long books:

Joyce Carol Oates: The Gravedigger's Daughter

• Excellent, of course. The protagonist, Rebecca Schwart, is a tough, ruthless version of Faulkner's Lena Grove.

Eva Ibbotson: The Dragonfly Pool

• Set mostly at an English boarding school during WWII, this is a wonderful YA novel that -- without having a bit of magic, sorcery, or wizardry in it -- seems magical.

Libba Bray: Rebel Angels

• The second novel in the Gemma Doyle trilogy. I'm looking forward to the film version of A Great and Terrible Beauty in 2010, and am reading the third novel, The Sweet Far Thing, right now.

Karen Maitland: Company of Liars

• An easy-to-read thriller set in 1348 England during the Black Plague.

Matthew Skelton: Endymion Spring

• A YA fantasy novel that alternates between present-day Oxford and 15th-century Germany. With the Gutenberg Press and dragons!

A Few Snaps from the Trip to Prague

A view of the River Vltava and the Stare Mesto, or Old Town

A street near Prague Castle

Stained glass window by Alphonse Mucha in St. Vitus' Cathedral

A tram bearing evidence of my family's coffee empire

Holy Cow!

Kim arrives this Friday! Woo hoo!